Anoka is a top contender for a $760,000 Metropolitan Council grant that would fill a missing link in the Rum River bike trail by extending it several blocks.

Anoka and Ramsey are also in the running for another Met Council grant to build a bike trail, with two canal-crossing bridges, from Anoka's Mississippi Community Park nearly 2 miles up the river to the undeveloped Mississippi West Regional Park in Ramsey.

"They are nice opportunities for recreation in the city," said Anoka Mayor Phil Rice. He noted that both trails run by or near rivers.

The Rum River link, which would begin at the Public Safety Building, would connect the trail to a bike path running south from City Hall under Main Street to Akin Riverside Park.

The Rum River trail project was ranked fourth highest among 57 proposals for transportation enhancement federal grants allocated through the Met Council, said Kevin Roggenbuck, coordinator of the council's Transportation Advisory Board. Anoka is very likely to receive funding when the council approves the projects in early 2010, he said.

The Mississippi River trail proposal by the two cities is less certain because it was ranked 23rd of the 57 projects, Roggenbuck said. He said the expected $18.5 million in federal funds would cover the Ramsey-Anoka project, but funding uncertainties could knock it off the list.

The joint project seeks $380,200, which would extend a bike trail north that runs south through Anoka to Coon Rapids Dam and into Minneapolis.

The new link would be part of the 3,000-mile national Mississippi River Trail, about two-thirds of which is completed, said Mark Riverblood, Ramsey's parks supervisor.

The Mississippi trail extension would end in Ramsey near a planned pedestrian bridge over Hwy. 10 and the nearby Northstar tracks almost to Ramsey's City Hall in the Town Center area. Ramsey Mayor Bob Ramsey said the city already has built a trail from Hwy. 10 to the Mississippi River that will connect to the new bike path and future pedestrian bridge.

Ramsey has agreed to a grant local match of about $116,800, most of which would pay for a park shelter and boulevard trees along the trail. Anoka's match would be $12,500 for the trail, which would run through King's Island Park into Ramsey.

Although neither project would receive grant funds until 2013, the two cities could build the trails sooner and be reimbursed. Advance construction will likely be recommended to the two city councils, said Riverblood and Greg Lee, Anoka's public service director.

Ramsey said he's nearly certain his council would favor doing the trail in the next year or two if the grant is obtained. He said the city has park dedication and other funds available for that purpose. "We certainly can make things happen, especially when we get matching dollars," he said.

Anoka would likely approve advance construction of the Mississippi trail if Ramsey does, Rice said, but he's not sure about advance work on the Rum River trail. That would mean paying the $760,000 grant up front plus a local match of $190,000. The project would include improvements to the planned River Front Park, including Rum River overlooks, a bandstand, interpretive signs and landscaping.

Roggenbuck said several other bike trail projects along the Mississippi River are ranked ahead of the Anoka-Ramsey project and are likely to win grant money, including two in Minneapolis. They are:

• A city Park Board request for a $925,000 grant for a 2.2-mile reconstruction of bike and walking trails along West River Parkway from the Franklin Avenue Bridge to Portland Avenue.

• A $1 million grant to paint and rehabilitate a 952-foot bike and pedestrian bridge from the University of Minnesota campus over the Mississippi to West River Parkway.

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658